Jenna Farro is a Junior business concentration major who has taken plenty of business core classes, and is involved in lots of different clubs and organizations on Siena’s campus! She is new to our Tutoring Center this year, and she enjoys helping other students learn in the classes that she has done well in! I got the chance to sit down and talk to her about the Tutoring Center in general, what she loves most about it, and how she helps different students!
Her Campus Siena: How did you become a tutor at Siena? Was it an application process or did you get recognized for your grades?
Jenna Farro: I saw the job post on CareerSaint, and throughout the application process they asked me if you had previous tutoring experience, why I wanted to be a tutor, what classes I would want to tutor for, two teacher recommendations from any professors, and whichever class you wanted to tutor in. You had to have a B or better as the final grade in the class. I heard back in just over two weeks and then I was able to start the position after attending the training session with all the new tutors!
HCS: What subjects are you qualified to tutor for?
JF: I am qualified to tutor for Accounting 200 and 205, Economics 102, Quantitative Business 100, 110, 120 and 250, Management 211, and Marketing 212 and 324. I have seen four different students who are all in Accounting 200 this semester, and they have been recurring meetings for three of the students throughout the length of the semester. I plan on continuing to help them throughout the last few weeks of classes and into the final exam period!
HCS: Do lots of people come into the Tutoring Center? Have people still utilized it in this strange semester?
JF: Yes, students are able to apply online and it goes through our Student Academic Success and Engagement office which is where the tutoring services are based out of. Once the students apply for tutoring, the office matches them to a tutor of their requested subject and then I get their name and email to reach out to them in order to pick a recurring meeting time and place. Students have definitely been using tutoring both in-person and over Zoom, we have a specific room reserved for tutors this semester in case a student wants to meet for in person assistance.
HCS: What is your favorite part of being a tutor?
JF: I really enjoy when the student I’m tutoring has that “ah-ha” moment and finally understands the material that is being taught. I personally think that students reach that moment after their tutoring sessions, which makes the overall experience better for both myself as a tutor, and for the student who can now understand the material!
HCS: Would you recommend using the tutoring services at Siena College to a student?
JF: I definitely would recommend the services offered through this office. When you get to meet with an individual tutor, you receive a one-on-one experience to really discuss all the information that you are unclear on whether that be a definition, a certain equation, or an application process that is crucial to the learning throughout the rest of the course. Group tutoring is also useful because it’s nice to have other students who are in the class with you that way you can bounce questions and answers off of one another and get explanations from different people. This is beneficial if you learn in a different way than one tutor may be explaining the problem.
HCS: Do you think that students at Siena utilize the Tutoring Center as much as the professor office hours?
JF: Students use this center just as much! The students’ first thought is typically to go directly to that professor since they already have built a relationship with them through the class setting, but afterwards if there is still information that is unclear, students come to tutoring to talk with one of us who has been through the class previously. Individual tutoring is an hour long session, and group tutoring is a come and go as you please over the length of two hours. This is beneficial because if you feel that you are still unclear on the information after the way the professor tried to describe it to you, the tutor may be able to help in another way.
Jenna is an incredible tutor to the students who inquire for her help in multiple sessions. She has enjoyed being a part of this office this past semester and looks forward to continuing participating in this program over the next few semesters she has left at Siena! I know that if I ever needed help in any of the classes Jenna is a tutor for, I would request her! The amazing thing about the Tutoring Center here at Siena is it’s free, so if you need the help go feel free to stop in or make an appointment over Zoom!